title: Humane images: visual rhetoric in depictions of atypical genital anatomy and sex differentiation.
abstract: Visual images are widely used in medical and patient education to enhance spoken or written explanations. This paper considers the role of such illustrations in shaping conceptions of the body; specifically, it addresses depictions of variant sexual anatomy and their part in the discursive production of intersex bodies. Visual language--even didactic, 'factual' visual language--carries latent as well as manifest content, and influences self-perceptions and social attitudes. In the case of illustrations about atypical sex development, where the need for non-stigmatising communication is crucial, it is especially important to consider the implicit messages conveyed by imagery and compositional strategies.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Communications, University of Toronto at Mississauga, CCT Building, Room 3067, 3359 Mississauga Road North, Mississauga, Ontario L5L 1C6, Canada. s.wall@utoronto.ca
authors.forename: Shelley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wall
mesh_terms: D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000473:pathology; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005835:Genitalia / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008488:Medical Illustration / Q000193:education*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D012733:Sex Differentiation; D013240:Stereotyping